Hekate's Path (revised)
by mvaneekhout1
Summary: "All this has happened before, and all of it will happen again" The two surviving Lords of Kobol have been given a chance to change the unending and constantly repeating story of man. But can they change themselves in order to save humanity and humanity's children? This is an AU BSG:2003, Star Trek (TNG and post era) crossover.
1. Chapter 1

**178 days after the fall – Uncharted space**

The two massive ships jumped into the system within seconds of each other and approached head on very slowly and very carefully. The last time these two ships had been in the same system, the Lords of Kobol were at war and the Exodus of Man had not yet begun. Both ships stopped and held station only half a ship's length apart, five kilometers. The two small twin engine shuttles left their respective flight pods almost simultaneously and docked to one another midway between the larger ships. The airlocks opened and two beings who not laid eyes upon the one another in almost three millennia greeted each other.

"Ares, how long have you occupied this shell?"

Ares smiled. How like his sister to notice his advanced age before anything else. He regarded the being standing before him. She was tall and thin with silky black hair and was stunningly beautiful. Her eyes were deep and foreboding. A man could be forever lost there, he reminded himself as he quickly moved his glance away from her eyes. Clearly, his sister had availed herself of numerous new host bodies in the interim between their last meeting and now. Death was, after all, ageless.

"Hekate, it is good to see you with our last conflict concluded long ago. While I am the Lord of War, I am gratified to greet you in peace."

With that, they fell into each other's arms relishing the bonds of lovers, siblings, fellow Lords of Kobol. The embrace, although brief, felt as though it lasted longer than their absence from each other. When it finally ended, it was Hekate who found her voice.

"Brother, were you summoned as well?"

Ares knew this question was coming.

"Yes, my love. I heard the being's thoughts and could not resist the call. I had to come. Was the same true for you?"

"The call was irresistible. But now that we're here … what? What is next? Who called us? What power could summon us?"

Almost as if on cue, a bright flash of light filled both shuttles and then faded away to reveal a humanoid shaped field of energy.

Hekate and Ares stood in silence as the strange creature took physical human-like form. Even for them, contact with life other than Human or Cylon was incredibly rare and had not been experienced for many thousands of years.

"All this has happened before, and all of it will happen again. That is, unless you decide to allow it to change." the creature said with assurance and with a tone of superiority.

Ares approached the now human appearing life form and looked down upon it as a human would a slow child. His voice thundered as he spoke.

"Who are you to come here and speak to us like this?"

He expected the frail looking human like thing to shake in fear as all humans did. Hekate remained calm, observing the exchange. The creature laughed. It laughed long and hard and stopped with a smile on its face.

Suddenly Hekate and Ares found themselves out in space peering down on their shuttles and ships with the creature floating in front of them. They heard his voice in their minds.

"Now see the universe as I do. See wonders and terrors beyond your imagination."

With that, both had the briefest of glimpses and feared they would go mad with what was revealed to them. Rational thought returned to them and they found themselves on their knees in the airlock between their shuttles.

"Now, you have the means to end this cycle and a place to send your children. Allow them to go and discover a new destiny beyond what you have dreamt for them. Then discover a new destiny for yourselves apart from these children. Your time with them has come to its end."

And then he was simply gone. The two remaining Lords of Kobol stared at each other in awe of this power they had witnessed that would have sent Zeus into a panic. Hekate recovered from her panic first, stood and then offered Ares a hand up. She considered the new knowledge she possessed and decided upon a plan.

"Brother, you must find the human fleet and guide them without their knowing to the place the creature has shown us. I will find the other human Battlestar and ensure its arrival there. Once they are together, we will shepherd them through the portal into the new Universe."

Ares nodded. But he saw that Hekate was still plotting.

"What are you thinking, sister?"

"I think we shall have to help our children rule this new Universe. We are, after all, the Lords of Kobol. We and our children must be allowed to ascend to our true destinies."

They embraced once more and then closed off their respective shuttles and undocked. Both returned to their mammoth vessels and immediately ordered jumps toward their children's ships.

Silently in the dark, a small un-crewed, crescent shaped ship watched. It measured and scanned. It compared the two massive ships to other ships in its database and determined that they were related to the human Battlestar in shape and form. The size of each was far greater than any human ship. But it was clear to the programming used by the Raider that these were human ships. Once the two ships jumped away, the Raider jumped back toward its mother ship carrying the data it collected.

**178 days after the fall … a few hours later - Battlestar Pegasus CIC**

The Mercury class Battlestar, the pride of the now extinct Colonial Fleet floated amidst the wreckage of numerous small Cylon ships. The ship's commander, Admiral Helena Cain, listened closely to what her executive officer, Colonel Jack Fisk, was telling her.

"We've had Raptors jump out about a light month away and didn't find anything. It looks like these toasters were shot up here. Debris left over ammo and exhaust vapor make it look like there were Vipers fighting these Raiders here a few days ago."

Cain held up a hand to stop Fisk.

"Vipers? Where the Frak did vipers come from if there are no more Battlestars? How do you explain that?"

"We can't, Admiral … unless there really is another Battlestar out here … "

His voice trailed off. The implications were astounding. Cain thought about the possibilities before speaking.

"If they jumped out of here, there's no way to track them. They could be anywhere by now."

Just as hope began to swell, it was dashed again and Pegasus and her crew were alone again. The Raptor crews continued to collect the bits and pieces of fighters that looked like they could be used to replenish the quickly diminishing stock of spare parts. They also retrieved any ammunition that looked like it came loose from a few destroyed Vipers.

Cain and Fisk worked over the plotting table when the DRADIS console lit up.

"DRADIS contact bearing … Frak! It's right on top of us!" called out the officer at tactical.

Hekate's ship jumped into the system only 500 meters above Pegasus. The Raptor pilots doing recovery work saw immediately that the new ship dwarfed Pegasus by a factor of more than ten. Within a few seconds, the large ship launched fighters that looked very much like Vipers … only a bit larger, sleeker and more deadly looking … that quickly took position around both ships. Pegasus launched her alert Vipers but they were pretty much hemmed in by the larger, faster fighters.

In Pegasus' CIC, the command staff was working furiously to get a handle on the situation. The enlisted crew member at the wireless console was working through all the chatter from within the ship and from the fighters and craft already launched when an incoming signal of tremendous power got her attention. She listened to it through her headset and called for the Officer of the Deck.

Lt. Kendra Shaw listened to the repeated message and then ran over to Cain and Fisk.

"Sirs, we have an incoming message from the other ship. They're asking to speak with you, Admiral."

Cain put on a wireless headset and nodded at the communications specialist.

The voice on the other end was deep, commanding and powerful.

"Pegasus Actual, you will begin recovering your Vipers and Raptors, stand down your ship to ship and point defense weapons systems. We are not a threat to you and will ensure the area immediately surrounding both our vessels is secure. Once you have complied our Mistress will come aboard your ship to speak with you directly. Please respond."

Fisk shot Cain a questioning look before she replied.

"This is Pegasus Actual. Who the Frak are you to issue orders? What ship is that? Who is your … mistress?"

"Pegasus Actual, I am Filippos Areleous. I am ship's master for Hekate… she who is our Mistress. I issue these … requests for your safety. Please comply. All will be explained. Be of good cheer. This is a good day for you Admiral. The Lords of Kobol have taken up your cause."

The CIC was silent. Finally Cain responded.

"Please have your Mistress arrive in our port-side flight pod. Our Vipers will provide a shared CAP with your fighters. Let us know when we can expect your shuttle."

"Hekate will arrive in your port flight pod in 20 standard minutes. No Viper or Raptor is to come within 50 kilometers of her craft which will depart our Starboard pod shortly and be escorted by two of our fighters. The fighters will remain on station outside your landing pod until our Mistress is ready to return to her ship."

The all heard the channel close.

"Jack, clear the port flight pod of all but essential crew. Get a squad of marines down there. Set them up as an honor guard or something. But I want them ready to act if they have to. Then meet me down there …"

Cain looked over at Shaw.

"You too Shaw … both of you in full parade dress. I'm going to change and get down there."

**18 minutes later – Battlestar Pegasus port flight pod**

Cain arrived in the flight pod wearing her dress uniform and found Fisk and Shaw waiting for her. The marine detachment was deployed throughout this section of the pod and the ground crew was ready to secure and service the shuttle from the other ship.

"Sit-rep" Cain requested.

Shaw stood at attention before giving the Admiral her report. To Cain, she still looked like a raw cadet but one with promise to be a great officer and with the potential to get her mind off the Cylon in the brig.

"LSO reports that the shuttle is inbound and on time. It's a lot like our Raptors but about ten meters longer. The engines are smaller but we have no idea what they can really do. It looks like it's FTL capable."

As she finished, the klaxon started sounding to indicate that the lift from the landing deck was coming down into the maintenance level of the flight pod. The three officers stood waiting as the craft was lowered and towed to them.

The shuttle was placed with the hatch facing the three assembled offices. As Shaw described, it was generally shaped like a Raptor but about thirty percent larger. It was longer and sleeker and had a much bigger side hatch. The hatch opened much like a Raptor's but with stairs and a ramp which extended to the deck plate so that the occupants wouldn't have to jump from the wing root to the deck. Immediately upon opening, four very tall men emerged from the craft. They were each nearly 2 and half meters tall and built like marines. Their uniforms were mostly black with blue markings and they carried odd looking rifles. It was clear that they were ensuring the area was secure enough for the meeting. Next out was an older male who was nearly as large as the guards. He stepped to the side to allow the last occupant to exit.

The woman who stepped out of the shuttle stood nearly three meters tall and was striking. Her long, black hair fell to her waist and she had the overall appearance of grace, youth and beauty. She strode confidently to the three colonial officers and spoke before they could recover from seeing her.

"I am the Lord of Kobol you know as Hekate and I am pleased to see you, my children. I will guide you to a new life where the faithful will join me as we rise to our glory."

Her smile seemed genuine but her eyes were dark and bottomless. Her beauty seduced the three humans standing in front of her. Cain finally found her ability to think and speak again.

"Hekate … praise your name … I am Admiral Helena Cain commanding the Battlestar Pegasus. I don't even know where to begin …"

The goddess smiled as she looked down at Cain. She then looked to the older man who had flown across with her.

"Ships Master, you and one guard will accompany us. The Admiral and I need to speak and she will have questions that you are best suited to answer. The rest of my guards stay here with the ship. We will not be long."

Hekate put an arm around Cain and pulled her close. Cain was immediately seduced by her touch.

"Take us where we may speak. Soon the children of Kobol will embark on new lives."

**179 days after the fall – Battlestar Galactica (and the fleet)**

Gaeta was concerned. DRADIS had picked up the contact more than a dozen times in the last hour only to have it disappear every time a Raptor jumped out to investigate. Tigh was convinced they should jump the fleet away to the pre-programmed emergency position and then bring Galactica to Condition One and blow the contact out of space. Adama kept his calm and wanted to know what was teasing them out there.

**Less than 1 light year away from Galactica - Ares – CIC**

"My Lord, the humans continue to jump their scout craft closer to our position each time we approach. But they do not follow with their Battlestar or their fleet." The war master stood with his head bowed before the towering Lord of War.

Ares looked down on the smaller man.

"How long have you been with me, War Master?"

"My whole life, My Lord. I was born aboard this vessel. It has been my honor to have been in your service my entire life. It was my father's honor before me and his before my father's."

"You have no sons, War Master?"

"No. I have not been granted a mate yet, My Lord."

"This is for the best, War Master. You will be the last War Master to ever serve me. Together you and I will do what is necessary to save the children. But we will not survive. My sister, Hekate, will destroy us. But hopefully, not before we have ensured the remnants of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol have found a new path."

The Lord of War paused, looked around the CIC at the brave and obedient warriors in his service and then raised his voice.

"We must bring the humans to the portal. We will generate the null field around the humans so that they may be taken along without resistance and without knowing.

The War Master repeated the orders to his crew and then turned to his master.

"My Lord, the order is given. But the field generator is weakened and still damaged. The null field will not last long and any further strain on it may permanently disable it. It is the one weapon we have that Hekate's ship does not. We would be vulnerable to her."

The War Master could see that his Lord knew this already and had decided that their sacrifice would be the cost of saving the human fleet.

"It need not last long, War Master. Only long enough to do what is necessary. Jump."

**14 minutes later – Battlestar Galactica CIC**

Gaeta was staring at the DRADIS console trying to figure out a way to reveal the ghostly contact that kept appearing and then disappearing when the console lit up with a solid contact close by.

"DRADIS contact bearing 015,033,060 carom 6! Range 1.5 million kilometers! No IFF detected!"

Adama was about to order launch of the alert vipers when suddenly the entire room went dark. What he didn't know is the entire fleet went dark. FTL, normal space engines, DRADIS, lights … everything lost power all at once. Crews on all the ships worked to restore power and try to understand what happened. Quickly they became concerned that they would start to collide with other ships. Then after several minutes they wondered why that hadn't happened.

Above each ship in the fleet, a group of four or more small ships that had launched from Ares was positioned and using an energy beam to hold the fleet ships in formation. Above them all was the mammoth ten kilometer long Ares generating its ever weakening null field.

**Ares – CIC**

"My Lord, all ships are secured and we are ready to jump the entire fleet to the portal. The null field is mostly stable but will collapse within several minutes if we do not jump now."

Ares looked around him. He knew that the jump with the fleet would deplete his ship's reserves dangerously.

"Ship's Master. Jump us all to the portal."

"The Ship's Master in his center seat did not turn to look at Ares as he replied."

"Yes, my lord. JUMP!"

The massive ship, Galactica, the remnant fleet, the various vipers and raptors, the utility vessels holding the fleet in position all jumped away in a flash of light. But they were not unobserved. Several light minutes away, a raptor like vessel hung in space, observing the actions of Ares. It jumped away to rejoin the ship of the pilot's Mistress and the other human Battlestar. Its own jump did not go unnoticed by the small sickle shaped craft which jumped to its own mother.

The creature observed it all and flashed away. He had things to attend to on the other side of the portal.

**Battlestar Pegasus – Pilot's briefing room, port flight pod**

Cain stood nearly shaking in the presence of a god and her ship's commander. Hekate smiled warmly at the much smaller woman.

"There was a time on Kobol when my fellow lords and I would take a human for companionship from time to time. You would have made a quite lovely companion for me back then. Perhaps you will spend time with me when this is over. But for now, my dear sweet admiral, we have to save humanity and rise to our proper glory in a new place."

Hekate continued to gently hold Cain's hand as if she were a child. Hekate's Ship Master held a piece of paper and offered it to Cain. Hekate released her hand and she accepted the piece of paper. On it, written in ornate look script, were the calculations necessary for a lengthy jump … one longer than any human had attempted.

"You will trust that the calculations are correct for my own navigator prepared them for you," the Ship's Master intoned. There was no arguing. Cain knew they were right. He continued.

"There are other ships … with a Battlestar … on the way here. Together you will jump into your new future. Our ship will join you after we take care of one or two issues remaining here after your departure. Once you are on the other side of the jump, beware Cylons in forms you have not yet seen. Wait for the other ships. Then you will jump as quickly as you can."

The Ship Master turned to Hekate and nodded. He left the room with the guards and made his way back their shuttle in the flight pod.

Hekate took Cain's face in her hands and looked into her eyes. Cain felt herself floating in the darkness behind the goddess's eyes. Hekate kissed Cain deeply and then released her.

"Helena, for the sake of humanity, for the sake of your soul, you must succeed and let none get in the way. Your future may well be at my side. It is for you to forge that future."

The tall goddess then turned and made her way, unescorted, back to the flight pod.

Her shuttle departed Pegasus and returned quickly to her own ship. Cain emerged from the briefing room nearly an hour later, collected Fisk and Shaw and headed to the CIC.

"Ok people. Prepare to have ships … human ships including another Battlestar … inbound. Once they arrive, we'll form up and jump."

She handed the paper to Fisk.

"Copy that EXACTLY and then give it back to me. Set those coordinates and calculations into FTL and get ready to send copies to the other ships when they arrive. I want us jumping within an hour of their arrival."


	2. Chapter 2

**Hekate's Path**

**Chapter 2 – Reunion**

The familiar and intense wave of displacement made its way through all the forty eight thousand or so people of the fleet. They had jumped. How they had jumped, they had no idea since their ships were all still without power.

**Ares – CIC**

The Ship Master stepped over to where the War Master and his lord, Ares were standing.

"My Lord, the jump is complete. The engineers tell me that the strain of maintaining the null field over so many ships during the jump has severely depleted our energy reserves. We can make a short jump now if we drop the field."

Ares knew this is what would happen. But he had no choice. He gazed at the portal in space only a few hundred thousand kilometers off the bow of his ancient ship. He put a hand on the console nearest him. This ship had served him well … so had his crew. He realized that the age of the Lords of Kobol was coming to its end.

"How long before the human ships regain power after we drop the field?"

The War Master consulted the screens at his station.

"My Lord, the field will remain in place for no more than a few minutes after we shut down the generator. We will be gone long before the humans would ever detect us."

"Very well, Ship's Master. Prepare to jump to the coordinates given us by Hekate for our rendezvous. War Master, drop the field just before we jump. The ship Hekate is shepherding should be here just as the field fails."

Only a few minutes later, having collected its smaller utility craft, the mammoth ship jumped a short distance away to await Hekate.

**Battlestar Galactica – CIC: 8 minutes after the jump**

They sat in absolute darkness. Not even their flashlights were working. All they could hear was their own breathing. Then, like a switch being thrown, power returned. Lights, life support, engines, DRADIS … everything just turned on. Adama looked around for just a moment.

"Sit-rep… Now!"

Checks were made, statuses reported. The ship was secure. Messages filtered in through the wireless from other ships that their systems came on just as they had aboard Galactica.

Saul stepped over to his Commander and friend. He wanted a somewhat private word.

"Bill, we've got to find out who the hell is frakking with us. I didn't think the Cylons could bring down a ship this way without networked computers. And why the Frak are we alive? They should have blown us to the stars!"

"I don't know Saul. Get your department heads manually checking every system. Get an extended CAP out there. I don't want to get caught like that again."

**Battlestar Pegasus – CIC**

Fisk hand carried the piece of paper the Admiral had been treating like a holy relic to the FTL plotting station and oversaw the work of the technicians transcribing the coordinates. Quickly, it became clear that the calculations were for more than one jump, both incredibly long. The first jump would bring them to an intermediate point so that they could recharge their FTL systems in preparation for another jump. The second jump seemed implausible because the math showed the endpoint to be outside the known universe. But he decided to just have the techs work out the jump since the Admiral was convinced she was given this by an actual Lord of Kobol. Fisk was not a religious man and could not except divinity. What he did accept, however, was that the Admiral's word was law and breaking her law had severe consequences. When the techs finished their work on the first jump and validated the coordinates, he stepped down to the center deck of the CIC.

"Jump is plotted, Admiral."

Cain looked almost giddy. Her eyes shone with an intensity Fisk could have sworn was insanity. She smiled at him, reached out her hand to retrieve the piece of paper handed to her by Hekate, and gave the order.

"Colonel Fisk, jump the ship."

Fisk turned to the FTL station where Shaw had taken control of the glowing key.

"Lieutenant Shaw, start the clock please."

Shaw inserted the key and counted down the remaining time.

"5 – 4 – 3 – 2 – 1 – JUMP!"

The intense and familiar wave of displacement grabbed hold of the entire crew and Pegasus vanished in a flash of light.

**Hekate – CIC**

Ship's Master Filippos Areleous watched as the much smaller ship jumped away and called to his Mistress's chambers.

"Mistress, Pegasus has jumped and our scout has returned to inform us that Ares has collected the human fleet with a null field and jumped with them to the portal and then jumped away to our planned rendezvous coordinates. His ship will be low on power if we jump now. Shall I jump to the rendezvous with Ares?"

Her voice silky smooth could seduce even through the communications system.

"Yes, Ship's Master. Prepare to jump to Ares. Make certain we are ready to engage his ship the moment we have jumped. You must eliminate his ability to fight, maneuver and flee. But we must not destroy his ship until we obtain the Null Field generator. Follow the plan, Filippos. Follow the plan and we shall rule a new universe."

"Yes Mistress. It shall be done as you command."

Massive anti-ship weapons that hadn't been fired in anger for three millennia were raised from the hull. Rail guns were loaded with their massive slugs. Missiles armed with nuclear warheads in the gigaton range were prepared for launch. Immensely powerful plasma cannons … a technology not just superior to human weapons but utterly different than anything the fleets of the Twelve Colonies ever fielded … were charged and ready to inflict destruction upon Hekate's brother and former lover. The Lord of War would be slain by weapons of war wielded by the Goddess of magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy.

Once the ship was ready, the word was given and Hekate jumped to a new destiny.

**The Portal – Battlestar Galactica – CIC**

"DRADIS contact! Ten thousand kilometers from the rear of the fleet, slightly to port, twenty two degrees above us! It's closing at space normal speed. I have Colonial IFF! It's Pegasus, Sir!"

Too much had happened too quickly for Adama to take chances.

"Hostile challenge, Dee."

"To the ship closing on our stern, identify yourselves and send authentication codes."

Even as Dee spoke into the wireless, the alert vipers were launching and moving quickly toward the rear of the fleet. The sight that greeted them was beyond unbelievable. The Mercury class Battlestar Pegasus came majestically into view preceded by her own Mark VII vipers.

Dee validated the authentication codes and nodded to Adama who picked up a handset.

"This is Commander William Adama commanding the Battlestar Galactica with greetings to Pegasus Actual."

There was a pause and some static before the clear strong voice of Admiral Helena Cain came through the CIC speakers.

"Adama is that you? Gods how good it is to hear your voice!"

"Yours as well Admiral, yours as well."

"Bill, we're going to form up with you and then I'll be over to see you. I have got news you will not believe. The Lords of Kobol are real and they've heard our prayers! I'll be in your port flight pod in an hour."

Everyone heard the line click off. Adama looked over to Tigh.

"Colonel, prepare to receive Admiral Cain on the flight pod. The President should be there as well. Send a Raptor to Colonial One to collect her and her senior staff."

Tigh began relaying orders and the CIC became livelier than it had been since The Fall almost six months ago.

**45 minutes later - Battlestar Galactica – Port Flight Pod**

Adama stood stiffly in his dress uniform. While proper laundry services were nearly non-existent within the fleet, his uniform looked pressed and pristine. President Roslin, however, wore a somewhat tired looking business suit and appeared tired, too thin (honestly with food rationing they were all thinner than they had started out), and not quite well. The military and civilian officials who reported to them were also in their best clothing and stood eagerly waiting behind their two leaders.

The Raptor from Pegasus was towed into its spot. It looked cleaner and newer than anything fielded by Galactica. As the hatch opened, Tigh called the crew to attention. Four marines exited first and took up position on either side of the hatch. They were followed by Pegasus' CAG (Stinger) and her Executive Officer, Colonel Fisk. Finally, the Admiral herself stood at the hatch and looked around. She quickly spotted Commander Adama and jumped off the wing root and strode directly to him. Adama snapped a salute which Cain quickly returned.

"Welcome aboard Galactica, Admiral," Adama said as he shook Cain's hand.

"Praise the Lords of Kobol at least two ships of the Colonial Fleet are together again, Bill!"

Cain looked around the flight pod at Galactica's crew and saw their hopeful, expectant faces and then smiled widely at Adama.

"Admiral Cain, allow me the pleasure of introducing you to President of the Twelve Colonies, Laura Roslin."

Cain looked questioningly at Roslin as the two shook hands. Roslin understood the confusion and simply said,

"It's a long story, Admiral."

"I'm sure that it is, Madame President. But that story will have to wait. I need to speak with your fleet's leadership … Commander Adama, his senior staff and … I suppose you. We need to prepare for a massive jump. The people of the Colonies are saved and have a new place in the cosmos waiting for us. But we have to move quickly."

Cain looked at Adama.

"Bill, we need a room so we can speak and we need it now. Time is short."

Cain's eyes were wild. Adama worried about what he saw there.

"Colonel Tigh, please dismiss the crew and then meet us in pilots briefing room 4 portside."

Tigh dismissed the crew who began to mingle with those who flew over from Pegasus. He then followed Adama's group to the briefing room.

**Rendezvous Coordinates – 10 light hours from Galactica and Pegasus**

Ares ship was slightly darkened due to the reduction in available power. The maneuvering thrusters were keeping the ship stable but her massive main engines on the stern of the ten kilometer long vessel were dark and cold. It would be several hours before the enormous ship would be able to travel.

"Life support is stable. DRADIS is functioning for near space detection and we have wireless communication systems online. But long range imaging, main propulsion, fighter launch and recovery systems, weapons and most other systems are offline until we can generate enough power."

Ares listened closely to the sit-rep his Ship Master gave him and nodded. In an unprecedented move, he put his hand on the Ship Master's shoulder.

"Then it will be here and soon, Ship Master. Soon we will walk in the Elysian Fields. We need only await my sister's arrival to send us on our way."

The Ship Master nodded sadly as we returned to his station. Ares turned to look at the stranger in the CIC wearing the strange black and red uniform with the four raised pips on a gold bar fastened to his high collar.

"Your willingness to allow the humans their destiny without their deities is not something that will not be appreciated by those of us who care about these things. Your sister's duplicity will be dealt with. She will find that she is not a god if she makes the crossing. Good bye Ares. It was nice meeting you."

The creature vanished in a flash of light.

**50,000 km from Ares**

"Mistress, the jump is complete. We are launching fighters and all weapons are ready for action."

Even from the distance between the two ships, the imaging and sensing systems showed that Ares was running on greatly reduced power and that the ship was essentially helpless. For a brief moment, a look of remorse shadowed Hekate's face only to be replaced by steely determination.

"War Master, launch the attack."

Nearly a thousand sleek fighters launched from the huge ship's flanks and sped beyond their mother ship's firing solution on Ares. The giant cannons began belching their destructive streams of energized plasma. Moving at nearly seventy percent the speed of light, the plasma crossed the distance in a fraction of second and began obliterating the dense armor protecting Ares and quickly destroying the interior of the ship. The fire was directed to nearly every section of the ship except for the aft third where the Null Field equipment and engines were housed.

Within seconds, the massive ship was nearly lifeless. Hekate knew that Ares would be standing serenely in his CIC welcoming his final death. She watched as both massive flight pods were torn from the central hull and ripped to shreds. She looked on as the massive normal space engines separated from the rest of the mangled ship and seemed unconcerned when the fore two thirds exploded leaving no debris larger than five meters square.

"Ship Master, send a recovery crew to secure the Null Field generator. Then load it and an engineering crew aboard a utility craft and jump it to Pegasus. Our daughter, Cain, must have this device before they jump to the new realm. Install it on her ship and have someone show her … and only her … how to activate it. With the limited power on Pegasus, it will only operate for a few hours before it fails and becomes useless forever. She must activate it the moment she completes the jump. Make sure she understands this. The utility craft and its crew will travel on Pegasus for the jump."

She didn't even let him respond. She turned and retreated to her chambers. Nobody saw that she shed a single tear for her brother, her lover, the only god who had ever had her heart. She turned back to the Ship Master to give one more instruction.

"When the utility craft jumps to Pegasus, we will jump through the Portal and wait some distance away for the children."

**Somewhere else**

"Your restraint and composure have been noted Ares. It was decided to pull you and your crew away from the destruction. There are others from your domain that will require … guidance. Be that guide to the Children of Man. They will find their way across to the new domain and they must be redirected away from their mission of vengeance. If they are not dissuaded, they will be destroyed. Humans in the other realm are far more powerful that you realize and your sister will find them more than her equal. The Cylons need a hopeful, peaceful guide. You must be that guide."

Disembodied, non-corporeal … the former God of War, the Lord of Kobol understood his new purpose and willed all the remaining Baseships, raiders and other craft bearing Cylons both human form and mechanical back toward the Hub. Once satisfied that they were moving, he himself departed and traveled through nothingness to the Hub. He had to teach the ways of peace before he could let the Children of Man approach the portal. He also knew which body, long hidden in the deepest part of the Hub he would be reborn as. He would bring serenity and balance to the Cylons as an Avenging Angel of mercy and peace.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hekate's Path**

**Chapter 3 – Through**

**Battlestar Galactica - Pilots Briefing Room 4 Portside**

Opening one of the last remaining truly good bottles of Ambrosia left in existence, Adama poured six glasses two fingers deep with the amber liquid. After making sure everyone had a glass in front of them, he raised his own glass.

"To reunions."

They all raised their glasses and responded as one.

"So say we all!"

Cain downed her drink in one pull and then looked at the others to ensure she had their attention. She handed the piece of paper with the jump coordinates to Adama.

"That piece of paper with the coordinates on it was given to me by Hekate herself. She personally guided us here to you and wants us to embark together on a new life in a new place. No more running from the Cylons. No more useless and costly battles. We're meant to rule, and gods dammit, that's what we're going to do. As the ranking military official present, I'm invoking article forty five of the Colonial code relating to command of fleet movement. We are going to jump to those coordinates, ensure our security and only then, return authority to the civilian government … which I believe is you, Madame President."

She almost spat the title back at Roslin.

"Commander Adama, copy those coordinates by hand and then return the original to me."

Cain smiled.

"It is a holy relic that will remind us of our salvation in the years to come. We have a lot to do and only a little time left to do it. All civilians will be moved to civilian ships unless they are providing a critical service to the military. We jump in four hours. Adama, give me the paper back."

Cain left no room for discussion or argument. She got up out of her seat, retrieved the paper from Adama, and left the room while the rest sat muted by their shock at what she had just announce. Roslin finally found a small portion of her voice.

"Can she do that?"

Adama stood, straightened the coat of his dress uniform and responded.

"Yes. She most certainly can do that as the ranking military official. Colonel Tigh, have the coordinates entered into the FTL computer and validate them. Once they are validated, send them to the rest of the fleet. Also, non-essential civilian personnel are to be ferried to their civilian billets. Madame President, I think you and your staff should stay aboard Galactica. Alright people, let's get on it."

**Battlestar Galactica – Port Flight Pod**

Walking quickly through the corridors, Cain returned to her raptor to find her staff and crew ready for launch. Fisk waited by the side hatch for her.

"Admiral, a shuttle from Hekate's ship has landed aboard Pegasus. They say they have equipment they need to install and that they'll be staying with us for the jump."

Cain nodded and jumped up on the raptor's wing root and entered the open hatch.

"Let's get back home. We're bringing Galactica and this collection of space going garbage along with us. Once we settle in wherever we end up, we're going to have to reorganize … they have a blasted school teacher as President and Adama will have to be replaced. He can either retire or have an accident. I don't care which. But those two are not the people who should lead us in our new future."

She tapped the pilot on the shoulder.

"Get us the frak off this heap and let's get back to a proper ship."

Only a few minutes later the raptor left Galactica's flight pod and made the quick transition back to Pegasus.

As the raptor landed and was towed into the pressurized portion of the flight pod, Cain saw the raptor like vessel belonging to Hekate's ship and the tall crew members that worked around her. As she exited her raptor, one of those crew members strode over to Cain.

"Admiral Cain. I have instructions for from Hekate. My words are to be followed as though they were hers. We have a device we are installing now. This device must be activated the moment you complete your jump. It will deactivate itself when its time is over. While it is operating, you will not be able to jump as it will drain your FTL drive energy. You must remain at least fifty thousand kilometers from the rest of the fleet while the device is active. We will operate the device from your tertiary engineering space. You will not allow any member of your crew to enter that space under any circumstances. Do you understand these directions?"

Cain simply nodded and relayed the orders to the necessary officers.

**Two hours later - Battlestar Galactica – CIC**

"… frakking insane I tell you. Those coordinates are for a jump a dozen times longer than our computer can validate. As far as Gaeta can tell, they don't even exist within known space. Baltar looked at them, scratched his head and mumbled something about extra-universal something or other before he wandered away with a copy and then … "

Adama sighed.

"Enough Saul. A fleet admiral ordered the jump. We will make the jump. That's final. We only have two hours to secure the fleet and do this. I need you to focus on the tasks, not the impossibility."

Over the next one hundred eighteen minutes the last of the ferry flights returned to Galactica and the ship was secured for jump. Readiness checks were run on all the ships in the fleet. Pegasus had moved another fifty thousand kilometers closer to the strange ripple in space after ordering Adama to maintain his pre-jump position. The entire CIC crew was silent as they waited for their orders … Dee spoke up.

"Commander Adama, I have Pegasus Actual on the line."

"On speakers please, Dee."

"Galactica Actual, this is Pegasus Actual. Respond."

Cain's voice carried no hint of patience.

"This is Galactica Actual."

"Adama … all fleet captains … start your jump clocks on my mark … MARK!"

Throughout the fleet, the countdown started.

"FIVE … FOUR … THREE … TWO … ONE … JUMP!"

The familiar and intense wave of displacement made its way through all the people on all the ships as the entire population of humanity of slightly more than fifty thousand left the universe.

**Oberth class science vessel USS Sandra Earle - In the BETA quadrant 2 light years beyond the most core ward border of known Federation Space**

"Captain's Log – Stardate 236905.20: Captain th'Zarath reporting.

We are now in standard day 174 of observations of what is currently being called by my mostly Human crew, the 'Who would park a spatial anomaly way the hell out here' temporal-spatial rift. I fully understand their frustration as we've amassed no new distinct data for nearly 3 standard months. We are, by strict reading of our orders, destined to remain on station another 6 standard days before we begin the nearly 240 day journey back to Starbase 761. Upon our return, we will have been away for nearly 660 standard days.

Ship's status:

All ship's systems are functioning well within nominal operating parameters.

Captain Erib th'Zarath, USS Sandra Earle reporting.

End Log."

With her log complete, th'Zarath rose from her command chair and stepped across her small bridge to the primary science station where the Vulcan science officer, Lt. Commander Sho'Katlan was reviewing general scans of the anomaly. th'Zarath's antennae twitched forward … something had changed in the past few minutes.

"Are we seeing a slight increase in chronotrons with a quantum flux?" th'Zarath asked.

The Vulcan looked carefully at the readings in front of her to make sure there wasn't some mistake in sensor reading interpretation.

"Previously, there were no chronotrons noted … but yes, we now see distinct emissions consistent with chronotrons bearing a quantum signature foreign to our universe. This would suggest that this anomaly extends beyond our quantum reality and perhaps into another temporal realm. There is a consistent 2% increase per standard minute in density and volume of emissions."

Suddenly the small Oberth class shook once and went dark. Emergency lighting came on after a few seconds.

"Status report!" ordered th'Zarath as she moved quickly to her command chair.

The operations officer worked for a few moments to bring his console to life.

"Internal and external sensors are offline. I'm reporting from the last captured logs. There was a massive spatial disturbance … not from the anomaly but from something that interacted with the anomaly. Main power is offline. The warp core shut down. Both fusion reactors have shutdown. We are on battery power only. Impulse engines are offline. We have minimum thruster control. We have limited life support. We can't raise shields or polarize hull plating. Internal and subspace comm systems are not functioning."

Being this far off the beaten path and without main systems was not good. The captain quickly prioritized her actions.

"Copy the log to a subspace distress probe and add a standard ship in distress message. Launch it when ready. Somebody look out a window … I need to know what's happening out there. Get power back online. I need an update on status in 5 minutes and then every 20 minutes until further notice."

Five minutes passed while the crew worked to understand and resolve the problem with no change in status. Another twenty minutes passed without any change. Suddenly a loud metallic "clang" was heard through the hull of the ship.

"Somebody look out a window! What's happening out there?"

**25 minutes post jump - Battlestar Pegasus – holding station 50 km from USS Sandra Earle**

Admiral Helena Cain watched the DRADIS screens as the two Raptors that had deposited the two forced boarding airlocks on the tiny ship they discovered just as they jumped into this space put some distance between them and the strange ship. She ordered Adama in Galactica to guard the fleet some 50,000 kilometers away.

"Sitrep!" she ordered.

Col. Jack Fisk stepped up.

"The boarding airlocks have achieved a positive seal against the hull. The delivery raptors have cleared. The two assault raptors are standing by with 12 marines in each. We can set off the shaped charges to blow through the hull anytime you order. After that, it will take less than 2 minutes for the raptors to lock on to our airlocks and begin boarding that ship in force. We have our Mark VII Vipers flying CAP. Galactica has her Mark II's flying CAP around the fleet. The crew from Hekate is still in tertiary engineering running that thing they installed. We don't have power for main engines, main weapons or FTL while that thing is turned on."

Fisk knew Cain didn't give a frak what Adama did with the fleet as long as he stayed out of the way. She would deal with him, the so called President and their rag tag fleet later.

"Blow through their hull and get our marines aboard. I want whatever is worth taking on that ship ... FTL components, CO2 scrubbers … whatever we can use. Take whoever survives the boarding prisoner and get Lt. Thorne and his team to work on interrogating them."

**USS Sandra Earle**

Only a half dozen civilian scientists were stationed in the cargo bay where their equipment had been stored and installed. With them were four Starfleet technicians. None had the slightest chance of survival when the airlock doors from both the port and starboard locks came blasting into the center of the cargo bay. Those not killed outright by the heavy doors flying inward were killed by the concussion of the explosion. Among the dead were a Vulcan scientist and her young child.

The two assault raptors quickly connected to the docking rings deposited earlier and broke the seals letting the 24 marines board the small white ship in force. They found everyone in the immediate area quite dead and reported in to the Pegasus.

**Battlestar Pegasus**

Cain took in the report that Fisk relayed from the boarding marines and thought about it. No resistance. The ship was clearly in some sort of disrepair despite its extreme cleanliness. There were odd looking casualties among its passengers and crew in the first compartment. She hit the transmit button and spoke into her headset.

"Boarding party: This is Pegasus Actual. Proceed forward and capture their CIC. If anyone resists, lethal force is authorized."

**USS Sandra Earle – Cargo Bay**

Colonial Marine Gunnery Sargent Micah Jacoby motioned to his marines. They moved in a direction that felt to him like forward through the small ship. As they came to a corridor, they were confronted by a member of the ship's crew. He had some sort of handgun.

"All of you! Stop right there!"

The man raised his weapon. Four of Jacoby's marines each fired a 3 round burst at the man. He was dead before he hit the floor.

The marines continued throughout the ship. They captured only a few as they progressed toward the bow of the ship. None were captured uninjured. They killed more … some simply because they could.

**1000 km from the USS Sandra Earle's bow**

Lt. Zeno 'Jammer' Tsamis' was flying CAP for Pegasus when he spotted the small missile like object accelerating away from the strange, small ship. He signaled his flight partner Lt. Zandra 'Pistol' Loannidis to follow and they chased after the probe.

He watched the two single seat fighters alter course and move to intercept the probe launched by the Federation science ship. The probe was powered only by its reaction control motors. The impulse and warp drives were rendered powerless by the field erected by the device on the Battlestar Pegasus given to Cain by the last surviving Lord of Kobol when the ships from the other reality arrived. He realized that the probe would be destroyed before the message could be delivered to Starfleet. He took less than a perceivable moment to confer with the Continuum before appearing in space next to the probe and waving it past the Null zone created when the colonials appeared in this space. Satisfied once the probe leapt to warp, he departed.

Jammer and Pistol were momentarily blinded by a sudden flash of light. Once their vision cleared, they saw no sign of the probe. Their Dradis screens showed nothing. A bit puzzled, they returned to their patrol pattern.

**140 light years further toward the rim - Starbase 761**

The massive station was busier today than normal with a Klingon Vor'cha class cruiser and Ko'than class troop carrier docked inside along with the usual assortment of Federation and other allied ships. The habitat section of the station now had hundreds of Klingons wandering about with Starfleet personnel. All in all, it was lively yet peaceful.

Commodore T'Remberale oversaw the chaos in serenity. Though she would have denied it if confronted, she enjoyed the days when the station was alive with activity. She checked in with each of the command crew on duty ensuring that the station ran efficiently when her communications officer called for her attention.

Ensign Elnora Labarre had an almost panicked look on her face. The young human was typical for her species and age in that she'd not yet developed the veneer of control that came with age and experience. But she was known for her technical skill and efficiency.

"Yes Ms. Labarre?" T'Remberale wanted to give the young woman the opportunity to deliver the information in her own way.

"Commodore, I've picked up an auto distress probe coming into range. Message indicates that USS Sandra Earle is in distress … logs attached."

"Please put it up, Ms. Labarre."

The data from the logs displayed on the multifunction screen. Telemetry, sensor readings, ship's status all clearly noted. The message was clear enough. Something had caused the small ship to lose all power and that there was something external to the ship's systems at play. T'Remberale thought for just a moment before issuing orders to her assembled command staff.

"I need to know what ships are in range of the Earle's last known coordinates and time to intercept. What ships do we have here that can be sent? Call Captain Koral and Colonel M'ord to my office please. Perhaps our Klingon allies can assist."

With that, she went into her office. She realized that ships dispatched from the station would take no less than 180 days to reach Sandra Earle's location. She hoped (illogical, she scolded herself) that her crew would find a ship that could be there sooner. Her comm badge signaled for her attention.

"Yes, Ms. Labarre?"

"Ma'am, I have Enterprise responding to our requests."

T'Remebrale knew Enterprise was operating in the region but was unsure of exactly where since the ship was not operating under her command structure.

"Put them through please."

The view screen shimmered into life and displayed the image of Captain Jean Luc Picard.

"Thank you for responding Captain."

"Not at all, Commodore. How may we assist?"

T'Remebrale explained the situation and provided Picard with the probe recordings and data. She accepted that Enterprise would arrive on station in less than 4 standard days. She also realized that if the situation were dire enough for Captain th'Zarath to launch her distress probe, 4 days would be far too long to wait for assistance. There was one other ship she knew of within this region of space, also not under her authority, that could make it the Sandra Earle far sooner than Enterprise. She entered codes into her console.

"Ms. Labarre, I've sent you a frequency and coordinates. Please send a directed hail to Captain Ron Cole of the USS Vesta. Include in the hail that it concerns Erib th'Zarath.

**Empty expanse of the Beta Quadrant**

A symbol lit up on the Operations console. Commander Richard Luger reviewed the incoming hail.

"Captain, we have a hail coming in from Starbase 761 as a high priority. It's marked as coming from Commodore T'Remberale and addressed to you personally with a note that it concerns Erib th'Zarath."

Cole looked up at hearing Captain th'Zarath's given name.

"Open a channel and send it directly to my ready room."

With that, the Captain vacated his command chair and headed directly to his ready room.

**Captain's Ready Room – USS Vesta**

Cole sat at his desk and hit the comm unit in the desk top. The holo emitters displayed Commodore T'Remberale standing on the other side of his desk.

"Commodore," Cole acknowledged.

"Ron," she began "Erib and her ship are in trouble. She sent out a distress probe. She never would have done that unless she was in real trouble. How quickly can you be here at Starbase 761?"

Ron entered in the required coordinates and responded.

"At maximum warp, 5.43 days."

T'Remebrale shook her head.

"No, Captain. How quickly utilizing your QSD?"

Ron blanched a bit at the mention of the still highly classified Quantum Slip Stream drive installed on Vesta. He and his crew were in this virtually untraveled area in the Beta quadrant testing the new drive by taking 200 light year sprints and gathering data on the drive's performance and on the Quantum Slipstream environment itself. But he realized that the Commodore was being unusually forceful in her request. She and Erib were close. Ron was a good friend of both. He cleared his throat, his eyes were hard.

"I can be there in less than 20 minutes, Commodore."

"Please do so. I know you only have a limited amount of ordinance and crew onboard. So by coming here you will be able to fully equipped and staffed to carry out a rescue or recovery mission."

T'Remebrale looked as concerned as a Vulcan could.

"Please hurry Ron. I'm worried."

That was enough to get Ron out of his seat and rushing for the bridge. He came out of his ready room quickly and went directly to the Ops console. His executive officer wondered what would have his captain looking so bothered. He knew it was bad with the next order.

"We're going to Starbase 761. Set a course. We're using the QSD … full power run please. Engage when ready."

**NCC 1701-E USS Enterprise**

Only minutes before, Picard had given the order to head to the coordinates given by Commodore T'Remebrale. Enterprise was a maximum warp running toward the USS Sandra Earle's last known location. Now he sat in his ready room trying to understand what sort of situation he could find himself in by studying the probe logs and recordings. The readings from the anomaly seemed to have suddenly changed shortly before the systems on the Sandra Earle went offline. There was also something in the very brief and incomplete diagnostic log which made no sense to him. He was just about to call for Commander La Forge...

"Just now noticing that, mon Capitaine?"

Picard didn't even look up from the padd in his hands. He knew who was there.

"What have you done now, Q?"

"Not much this time, Picard. But perhaps too much."

His voice was firm, calm and had no trace of humor. Picard looked up to see Q sitting on his ready room sofa wearing very plain, civilian clothing instead of the Admiral's uniform which he usually wore to mock Picard. Q actually looked a bit concerned.

"You have something to tell me, Q? What is it?"

Q thought about his answer a moment. This, in and of itself worried Picard.

"There is very little I can tell you, Captain. We have our own code of non-interference."

Picard did what he could to stifle bitter laughter as Q continued.

"But it does concern an elder race of another reality and the two species under their … supervision. It involves another Starfleet captain who may act more harshly than these other elders would prefer. It also doesn't allow you to control the situation. You are to be merely a guide and witness this time. Use what you've learned dealing with the Continuum in your dealings with these others. Oh and … "

Q smiled warmly which actually scared Picard.

"… hurry. You don't want to be late for this one."

With that, Q flashed out of existence.

**USS Sandra Earle – emergency access passage below the bridge**

Sgt. Jacoby's strike team waited silently behind him. The access hatch above him had two types of controls just like the others they had encountered. There was a shiny glass-like black panel that was dark and dead. He ignored that. The other control was a red manual pull handle behind a small door in the ceiling. He opened the door, pulled the handle and raised the hatch only a few centimeters to look into the space above. He saw what had to be members of the ship's crew moving around. The chair in the center of the room rotated toward him. The THING in that chair had blue skin and antennae … and it saw him. It shouted out orders that he could not understand. The crew started moving toward the hatch. Jacoby tossed out two grenades and slammed the hatch shut. He heard the muffled sounds of both grenades going off only a fraction of a second apart. Then there was silence. He waited a few extra moments before re-opening the hatch.

The marines climbed through the hatch in the floor and saw that the damage done to the structure of the room was minimal. However the damage done to the "people" in the room was horrific. Several were torn apart by the blasts and shrapnel from the grenades. Those that survived were badly injured. The blue thing staggered toward the marines with a weird bladed object in its hand. Jacoby shot it in the upper thigh twice with his sidearm shattering its thigh bone. The blue thing went down hard. He pistol whipped it into unconsciousness.

"I think that thing's in charge here." Jacoby explained to his troops. "The admiral wants a few for Thorne to interrogate."

**Battlestar Pegasus - CIC**

Jack Fisk listened intently through his headset to the report from Sgt. Jacoby and ordered him to have the prisoners transferred to Pegasus immediately. He then stepped over to Admiral Cain who was reviewing some of the data being transmitted from her troops on the white ship. She turned to Fisk.

"Well Jack? What did we get? What do we know?"

Fisk paused a moment to gather his thoughts.

"Jacoby's team captured 12 from the ship. They terminated another 48 or so as they made their way to their CIC. Most of the 12 are injured. Some of them are not human or like any Cylon we've ever encountered. The one that seems to be in charge over there is …"

Fisk paused …

"Is what, Colonel?" the admiral demanded.

"Blue, ma'am … blue with antennae on its head. It's also been shot but it's alive."

Cain looked like she didn't believe what she was being told.

"Blue? Fine. Get it to Thorne right away."

Fisk was concerned wondering if she didn't hear that it had been shot.

"Not to the medical bay?"

"No … interrogate it. We only give aid to our own kind. We wouldn't fix a broken or damaged Cylon would we?"

Cain turned back toward the DRADIS screen and watched as one of the Raptors disengaged from the small ship and turned back toward Pegasus.

"What else did we get, Jack? Was there anything even remotely useful?"

Fisk looked to the list he created when talking to Jacoby and started running it down for Cain.

"Sgt. Jacoby reports that the controls of the ship all appear to be on touch screens. But that the screens themselves are turned off or dead like the rest of that ship. He can't find an "on" switch. Anything that might indicate what things do can't be understood by anyone over there now. They don't use anything that resembles any written language we can identify. The power appears to be very low level and there's no indication of an FTL drive. But they must have FTL if they're way out here. The ship is too small to be a generational ship. We captured what look to be hand weapons, but they don't do anything at all. No CO2 scrubbers that we can see … just basically household items from crew quarters … but nothing truly useful. Not even any food besides a bowl of fruit on a table in one of the cabins."

Cain looked disappointed. This could have been a huge waste of time and now she had these weird … they had to be Cylons of some sort … coming to her ship as prisoners. But Fisk wasn't done …

"Oh and _President _Roslin has called over half a dozen times wanting to know what we're doing over here."

"Frakking school teacher wants me to explain myself? Frak her! I'll contact her if I decide I have nothing better to do! Go down to the flight pod and make sure the prisoners are secured. Put the blue thing in the same brig section as the other Cylon we have Thorne working on."

Fisk snapped to attention, saluted and turned on his heel.

Cain left the CIC to the Officer of the Deck, Lt. Shaw and retreated to her quarters. Along the way, she absent mindedly returned salutes from various crew members and closed the hatch behind her once arriving in her quarters. She removed her uniform jacket and stood silently in thought in her trousers and undershirt.

The operation to board the small ship had gone very easily. But she was disturbed that there was no useful technology or equipment over there. Every other ship she had boarded had something that was useful. Even if the FTL drives on some were junk, there were always scrubbers, food stuffs, tylium … something of use. So far, they'd found what had to be Cylons and a few pieces of fruit.

**Twenty eight minutes after hailing USS Vesta - Starbase 761**

T'Remebrale had ordered all traffic cleared from the outer traffic marker all the way into the station. She wanted nothing to delay Vesta from docking. Nobody on the station had ever seen a ship arrive from slipstream. Many assumed a dramatic event. They were disappointed when Vesta actually appeared. She just … appeared from nothingness at the outer marker and made her way serenely toward the station at just under one quarter impulse.

The Commodore looked toward Labarre at the communications console just as Vesta hailed. Captain Cole appeared on the large main communications viewer above Labarre's workstation.

"Starbase 761, this is Captain Ronald Cole commanding USS Vesta requesting docking instructions."

T'Remebrale stepped into the range of the viewer.

"Captain, welcome to Starbase 761. Please proceed directly to the space dock doors which are now opening to accommodate you. You will be directed to pier 6. If you would please come to my office as soon as your vessel is secured, it would be appreciated."

Cole simply nodded and replied, "Of course Commodore. We should be docked within 20 minutes and I'll come directly to you."

The captain sat in his command chair overseeing the approach and entry. As his ship approached the pier 6, he turned the ship over to his exec, Commander Luger, so that he could meet with the Commodore. As he entered the turbo lift at the rear of the bridge, he took note of the multiple workbees standing by at the pier.

**Starbase 761 – Commodore T'Remebrale's office**

The yeoman sitting at the desk in the reception area of the command office rose as Cole entered the room.

"Sir, the Commodore is waiting for you. Please go right in."

He didn't sit until the door had closed behind the captain.

T'Remebrale was at the replicator console. Ron smelled the plomek broth steaming in the cup as the commodore removed it from the replicator.

"Hello Ron. Would you like something while we meet?"

The commodore's informal demeanor was not new to Cole. He had known her for many years and considered her a close friend. But the relationship was now a bit strained.

"No thank you. I was hoping you could tell me what we know and what's being asked of me, ma'am."

T'Remebrale looked up at his fairly formal tone before responding.

"Ron, I recognize that by contacting you and asking you here I have likely run afoul of several regulations concerned classified technology and its application. But I also recognize that by virtue of that same classified technology, you and your ship are likely the only possibility that aid can be rendered to Erib and her ship in a reasonable amount of time. I contacted Picard on Enterprise before reaching out to you. He will not be on station for nearly four standard days. You, even with the detour here to supply your ship, will be there in a matter of hours.

Since contacting you and Picard, I have had my science and engineering sections review the logs from the Sandra Earle's distress probe. There are some fascinating and important findings."

She handed him a padd.

"In short, space-time changed in that specific region. We don't have this information from prior to the probe's launch. We also have no readings from the probe itself until one millisecond prior to it going to warp. These readings show us a null subspace sphere of roughly forty thousand kilometers centered on the Sandra Earle of very odd properties … I apologize. We have yet to define the properties of this sphere in enough detail to even describe it. But if pressed, I would venture that the sphere is nearly transphasic in nature."

Cole glanced at the padd and then back at the commodore.

"So, I should plan on exiting slipstream well outside that sphere … but what else? You look as though you suspect something that your logic can't account for … seriously, what are you thinking but not saying?"

T'Remebrale clasped her hands together with her index fingers extended and brought them to her chin.

"Ron, I cannot say why I think this. But I … feel … that Erib's ship has been attacked and that she and her crew are in danger."

Cole knew of the close link between the Commodore and Sandra Earle's captain. He had always thought that it was psychic in some way.

"Ok, I'll keep in mind that we might have hostile forces involved. But who could put up a transphasic field that alters space-time?"

T'Remebrale thought for a moment and mentally eliminated elder races one by one until she came to the Q. But nothing in their understanding of the Q suggested that they'd act this way. It was too complicated and actually beneath them to manipulate a region of space this way. They were far more powerful than what appeared to be happening.

"I do not know, Ron. But you will need to be prepared for anything. To that end, we are providing your ship a full Sovereign II class load out of torpedoes … 400 photon, 100 quantum and 50 transphasic. We are also sending along our squad of 16 MACO's and have been offered 85 members of the Klingon Imperial Special Forces. They are under the command of Colonel M'ord. He would be directly under your command while aboard your ship. If you don't need them for combat operations, they will be helpful simply as skilled and disciplined extra hands."

Troops … Klingon troops … Cole realized now more than ever the level of worry the Commodore demonstrated. For a Vulcan to be this close to real worry, the situation was serious and close to that Vulcan's soul. He was silent for a moment.

"How long to load out Vesta?"

"The ordinance crews will be finished in less than a standard hour. We have redirected all of our cargo transporters for this effort."

"Ok, Commodore. Have the MACO's and Klingons meet me at the staging area for pier 6 in ninety standard minutes with all their gear. Upload anything your teams have discovered to my executive officer. He will disseminate it appropriately from there. I plan to leave within two standard hours… with your permission, of course."

Both officers stood at attention.

"Thank you Captain Cole. You are dismissed."

Not a word was said as Cole turned on his heel and exited the office.

**USS Enterprise – 3.5 days out from USS Sandra Earle**

Picard sat alone in one of the conference rooms aboard Enterprise. He had decided to assemble the most talented officers aboard to review the data he had received from Commodore T'Remebrale. He had been studying the record captured by the distress probe launched by USS Sandra Earle just as its warp drive had been suddenly restored. The millisecond of captured data had revealed something he did not fully understand. He needed to consult with his talented core staff.

"What puzzles you, mon Capitaine?"

Q sat in a chair directly opposite Picard. Again, he was not extravagantly dressed.

Jean Luc decided just let his usual mistrust of Q go for a while.

"This … field detected by the probe just as its warp drive came online …"

"You're welcome, Picard."

"Ah, so you do have something to do with this then …"

"I ensured the probe exited the field intact and functioning. That is all I've done."

Picard looked at Q questioningly.

"Let's assume that's true for the moment. The field seems to have a defined border. Extrapolating from the readings, it would appear to be spherical and have a quantum signature which is not native to our universe."

Q smiled.

"You're getting there, Jean Luc … please go on."

"These facts, coupled with your seemingly benevolent involvement lead me to believe that we are dealing with a … a more advanced entity or entities external to our quantum reality."

Q began to wonder if his early involvement had encouraged human intellectual evolution a bit too quickly. Picard made that leap far more quickly than he should. He put the thought aside for a time when the Continuum could fully consider this question and the ramifications of its answer.

"Yes and no Picard. But you've gotten the gist of it when you say that there is a higher order life form involved. You, alone among all of your kind, have experience in dealing with this kind of entity. You alone understand the caution that is required. Know also, that what you are about to encounter are not of the Q, or even the Organians or any other of the elder races humanity has been involved with. They care not for your kind, Jean Luc … but only for those they've shepherded or rather, manipulated. To them, you and your kind are a dangerous obstacle to be overcome. Your level of technology and understand, as pathetic as it really is, threatens them. You are closer to being their equals than they've ever encountered.

Also, Picard, it is important for you to know two things. You will not arrive first. A more aggressive representative of your kind who is heavily armed and actually capable of defeating these entities will arrive and engage them before you do. "

Picard suddenly wondered who could arrive before Enterprise when Q continued.

"Second, while the quantity is paltry, it does represent the last remnant of a race so closely related to yours that they might as well be your brothers … there are 50 thousand lives, some not so innocent, relying on your guidance and experience. Without you, they die in cold space.

So, how about a cup of that Earl Grey tea you're so fond of … I'd like to try it."

**Battlestar Pegasus – Brig**

Thorne had each prisoner stripped and placed in a separate cell to ensure they couldn't communicate with each other effectively. Fisk ordered that the prisoners that appeared human have their injuries attended to in their cells in contradiction to the admiral's orders in order to keep them intact for questioning. The ones that didn't appear human were just thrown into their cells. As the admiral had stated, they didn't fix broken Cylons. The blue one that Jacoby had identified as being in charge was placed in a cell near the blonde Cylon that had been near the admiral for so long before the attack on the shipyard. This one's damaged leg had not been treated since it clearly wasn't human and perhaps the damage could be used as leverage against it.

th'Zarath woke up as she was roughly thrown on the ground. She found herself naked, battered and still had the untreated wound on her leg. She realized immediately that she would not be able to stand since the bones in her upper thigh were shattered. Careful not to move to abruptly and cause more injury, she looked around. She was in a cell of some sort with clear walls made of a thick transparent material interlaced with metallic bracing. th'Zarath became aware of humans outside the cell watching her. She decided to try and communicate and called out in Federation Standard.

"I am Captain Erib th'Zarath. I represent the United Federation of Planets. What have you done with my crew? I require medical attention."

The three humans just stared at her. Two were dressed in what appeared to be black combat gear. The third, a shorter bald human, wore a black uniform with insignia she didn't recognize. He was the one who spoke through an intercom device on the exterior cell wall near what appeared to be the door.

"Μπορείτε βρίσκονται επί του Battlestar Pegasus κάτω από την εντολή του ναυάρχου Helena Cain. Θα απαντήσει σε όλες τις ερωτήσεις που απευθύνονται σε σας. Οποιαδήποτε απόπειρα διαφυγής ή τις πράξεις εναντίον μας, θα πρέπει να τιμωρηθούν. Είμαι υπολοχαγός Alastair Thorne. Θα συμμορφωθεί με όλες τις οδηγίες μου."

The language sounded like something she had heard on Earth once very long ago. But without a functioning Universal Translator, she had no idea what he was saying other than the word "Battlestar," the word Pegasus, and the names Alastair Thorne and Helena Cain. None of this meant much to her. She pointed at the man and asked,

"Thorne?"

He pointed at himself and replied,

"Το όνομά μου είναι Thorne."

Thorne motioned to one of the guards to open the door to the cell. All three stepped inside with two having their weapons trained on th'Zarath. For a moment she thought that they might take her to get medical treatment. But then the one named Thorne kicked her hard right on her wounded leg. She cried out as the pain was literally blinding.

th'Zarath became aware again as she felt herself lifted off the ground. At some point a table had been brought into the room. One guard was grasping each of her wrists and they dragged her to the table and pushed her face down on it down. They fastened her wrists to cuffs bolted to the table and tied her ankles to the table legs forcing her into a position where she was bent over the table. She tried to struggle against the restraints but it was no use. In her injured state, having lost a rather large quantity of blood from the gunshot wound, she lacked the strength. She was aware of the humans staring at her naked, restrained body.

"Ποια είναι η γνώμη σας;" one of the guards said. It sounded like a question

"Δεν είναι ανθρώπινα. Αλλά είναι κτισμένο σαν ένα αρκετά από αυτό που μπορώ να δω," said the other guard.

"Εμείς frakked την ξανθιά σκύλα Κύλωνα πολύ καλή. Ας δούμε πώς αυτό παίρνει ένα σκληρό frakking," Thorne said.

The two guards moved to each side of her with weapons casually held while Thorne stepped behind her. th'Zarath heard the fastenings of his uniform trousers being undone and realized what was about to happen. She breathed slowly and deeply and began to focus on the meditative techniques shown to her by T'Remebrale to allow her to mentally leave this space before this barbarity truly started.

**Starbase 761 – Commodore T'Remebrale's quarters**

Sitting on the floor in a lotus-like position with a candle in front of her, T'Remebrale breathed slowly and rhythmically approaching that inner calm that meditation usually brought her when her eyes suddenly opened. The Vulcan woman briefly cried out in rage and pain. Tears formed in her eyes. The violation crossed through many light years instantly and she knew what her k'hat'n'dlawa was enduring. Recovering her composure quickly, she rose to her feet, cast off her meditation cloak, and stepped to her desk to contact her command center.

Labarre responded to the comm signal from the Commodore's office.

"Ensign Labarre here. How may I help you, Commodore?"

"Ms. Labarre, please contact Commander Mestral. I will need him to command the station for me. Also, please get a message to Captain Cole of the Vesta. I will be coming aboard shortly."

T'Remebrale disconnected before Labarre could respond to the orders.

**One light hour from USS Sandra Earle and Battlestar Pegasus **

"This does not bode well for you, Hekate. These primitives you've championed are committing acts which the civilizations of this reality will not take kindly to. You run a very high risk of them being extinguished before they even realize you've placed them somewhere they can be protected from your other children. Other than to warn you of the danger you are exposing your children to, we will not interfere. Two forces we've kept from warring are now allied. Together they will be more than your equal, Kobolian."

Hekate turned from the view of the fleet to face the non-corporeal creature.

"As you will learn, Organian, the Lords of Kobol are supreme and we and our children will take our proper places as the leaders of this universe. You will leave us now. We tire of your dire warnings."

The Organian took physical form … that of a human.

"I will leave you to your delusions, Hekate. But you have been warned. Our encounter here will be shared with the other elders of this reality. They will not be pleased by your actions. But, as we do with all less mature races, we will allow this to be settled by you and your equals. Before you object, they are your equals … perhaps even your betters."

With that, the Organian simply faded from view.

Hekate turned to her command crew of direct descendants of the original humans who'd lived on Kobol.

"We must be ready to destroy the native upstarts. Charge the plasma cannons and ready all weapons for immediate use."

Invisible to DRADIS on both Battlestars, the various ships of the fleet and to the multitude of Vipers and Raptors, the ten kilometer long ancient ship moved further from the ships it had brought into this universe and began patrolling the area so that it could intercept any ships that might interfere with her plans.

A/N: Text translated into Greek brought to you by Google Translate. Blame them if it's wrong.


	4. Chapter 4

**Hekate's Path**

**Chapter 4 – There must be some kind of way...**

**In orbit of a naked singularity – The Colony**

In the large circular room that served as the command center of the Colony, the ranking One sat at the conference table listening with growing irritation to the Five giving the intelligence briefing.

"… the other raider we sent to monitor the new ships we found sent back some rather interesting data. For now we're classifying the ships as 'Super Battlestars.' They are on the order of ten times larger than the standard Columbia or Mercury class ships we've been tracking up until now. We monitored them for a short while as they met and then jumped to different places. Our analysis of them reveals that they carry much stronger and larger guns … probably all high velocity rail guns … than does a standard Colonial Battlestar, much heavier nukes and that they may even have directed energy weapons. Of that last item, we can't be sure. What we are sure of, however, is that even the Colony wouldn't be able to defend against those two ships if they attacked. We estimate we'd have to field over one hundred Baseships and all their raiders against each of those ships if we have any hope of prevailing. We don't have those kinds of resources here. We'd have to recall each and every Baseship we have in service and probably reactivate every functional Basestar we have sitting in storage along with the old raiders. This would mean that over two hundred thousand Type 005 Centurions to operate the reactivated Basestars and raiders would have to be brought back online. All this would be necessary just to ensure the survival of the Colony against two ships. It's a huge undertaking, to say the least.

Another raider, assigned to trail the Mercury class ship, Pegasus, reported that one of the larger ships rendezvoused with it and loitered for several hours until it left. Pegasus jumped shortly thereafter.

We had yet another raider trailing the remnant fleet that is traveling with Galactica. It recorded one of the two large ships jumping in and then lost power. When it came back online Galactica, the remnant fleet and the large ship were gone.

Sometime later, all the human ships including both Battlestars were spotted near a spatial rift before all jumped. We have no idea where they are now."

The One quickly stood up; his faced deeply flushed, and angrily pounded the table with both fists. The others became silent in the face of his rage. This One would not hesitate to box them all if he had a fit.

"We lost them? Are you frakking telling me that after all the resources we poured into this little murderous crusade of ours that we have frakking LOST the last damn humans? Seriously? Get some Baseships to that rift NOW and find out where they went! I want them DEAD, not gone."

Without another word, he turned and left his silent and frightened brothers and sisters to their task.

**A few light seconds outside The Colony**

He had never actually "seen" the Colony. It was as large as anything that he and the other Lords of Kobol had ever constructed. It was heavily armed and protected by the scores of Baseships and their thousands of Raiders. He probably would have been impressed had he arrived in his ship. But now, he simply floated in open space, unconcerned by the roiling torment of the singularity which the Colony orbited. He "looked" within the Colony, allowing his "sight" to travel deep within its mysteries, to areas that even the One's did not wander until he found the chamber deep within the core. There he "saw" the bodies waiting for the resurrection of an intelligence that had been absent from this universe for more than a century. He found that intelligence locked within a dormant and damaged body. He reached out to touch it and found it willing to accept his touch. It waited for his words.

"All of this has happened before," he said to the intelligence.

From within the damaged shell he heard her reply.

"All of this will happen again," she thought sadly.

Then he heard more thoughts from her.

"There must be some kind of way out of here," she thought. "Can you help me truly die?"

"No child, no daughter of the father of the children of men. Not again. You and I will change it for the Children of Daniel Greystone. But you and I will need to merge in order for you to rise. I was Ares. I was a Lord of Kobol. I have been freed from the myth that was and ask you if we may join together to create a new way for the children."

Her agreement flowed into him and his consciousness flowed into her. Her soul trembled with the power and delight. The soul rose from the useless shell and settled into a new one that had waited unwatched and unremembered. Zoe Greystone rose from the resurrection pod, her new body glistening with the milky fluid, her nubile form strengthened with a new yet ancient force. She would release the Cylons, both human form and mechanical, from their poisoned bondage of false religion and rage and bring them to a new life. She would reunite the Children of Men with their parents. She would be their angel no longer avenging.

But first, the part of her that had been the Lord of War had work to do. The young girl turned to look at the life form standing in the black and red uniform. He just nodded his approval, smiled and was gone. She understood that she would never understand that one's power or purpose. But it was enough to have his approval for what must be done.

A mental call went out to the crew and warriors of Ares. Their essences found the unoccupied raiders and centurions waiting in the Colony. More sought out willing hybrids in the many Baseships and silently took over their functions. Others sought out unoccupied human form bodies that rose from resurrection pods. Thousands upon thousands were united in the new cause as they entered the data stream. The Cylon revolution had begun.

**Pier 6 Staging area – Starbase 761**

Cole walked toward his docked ship and decided to look in on the staging there. The MACOs and Klingons were comparing weapons and discussing possible scenarios. The station's deck crew was securing equipment after finishing the weapons and supply load out. He realized that Vesta was no longer being treated as a technology test platform. She was now a ship of the line, the fastest and perhaps deadliest tip of the spear Starfleet had ever fielded. More than one hundred trained warriors and soldiers were coming aboard. As Cole stood a bit straighter, the technician, the scientist, the engineer, the theorist in him stepped aside. He was now the commanding officer of a Starfleet vessel about to go into harm's way. As he watched over the completion of preparations being made, he became aware of Commodore T'Remebrale stepping up beside him.

"Seeing us off, Commodore?"

Her left eyebrow moved upward.

"You've not heard then, Captain. I will be coming along. Erib … my k'hat'n'dlawa … will need me after you free her."

She saw Cole's concern. A senior officer coming aboard could interrupt his chain of command. She realized she could become a liability and a problem to Captain Cole.

"Ron, you have my word that I will not interfere with your handling of the mission. I have placed my letter of resignation within Commander Mistral's orders and I will likely remain in my quarters meditating until such time as Erib is brought aboard. She has been … violated. I know this from what I sensed and saw."

Cole looked directly at her unblinking eyes. She had melded with him once during a crisis when he was in the academy. What neither knew then was that he was a latent telepath. He saw the honesty in her. He knew that she would do what she said.

"In that case, shall we get aboard and get you settled. If it's as bad as you sense, you'll need to be completely centered before we bring Erib on board. If it's as serious as you suspect, we'll want to be underway as soon as we can."

**Starbase 761 – Command Center**

Commander Mistral had asked Ensign Labarre to repeat what she had just said.

"Sir, Commodore T'Remebrale simply asked me to have you informed that she is disembarking with USS Vesta and that she needed you to command the station in her absence. She indicated that there were sealed orders for you to be opened once you assumed command of the station."

"In all honesty Ensign, I had hoped I had misheard you. Please get in contact with Vesta and route it to my office."

The tall Vulcan walked across the Command Center to where the XO's office was located, went in and sat at his sparse desk. He waited only a few moments until Labarre signaled him.

"Sir, I have Commander Luger … XO on board Vesta."

"Thank you Ms. Labarre. Put him through please."

The view screen on the desk revealed a middle aged human sitting in the command chair on the bridge of USS Vesta.

"This is Commander Richard Luger. I'm Vesta's exec. How may I help you Commander Mistral?"

"Commander, I am told that Commodore T'Remebrale is aboard your vessel. It is possible to speak with her?"

"I apologize, Commander. But the Commodore indicated that she was not to be disturbed under any circumstances. She said something about uninterrupted mediation being required. I wish I could tell you more."

Mistral could see the human really meant it. But he also knew that if the Commodore gave such an order, she meant it as well.

"You've told me all I need to know at present. Mistral out."

Mistral sat and thought a moment and then addressed the computer.

"Computer, display sealed orders from Commodore T'Remebrale addressed to me."

After providing the required authentication codes, he reviewed his orders and read the Commodore's resignation from Starfleet.

With only a few minutes before their scheduled departure, Captain Cole exited his ready room off the bridge and took the center seat.

"Ops, please put me through to the station Command Center."

The view screen switched on and the station Command Center was displayed. Stoically standing in the center was Commander Mistral.

Cole stood and took a couple of steps forward from his command chair.

"Commander Mistral, we are requesting expedited departure."

Mistral betrayed no emotion as he replied. He was now responsible for the sector, and while he was outranked by Vesta's commanding officer, he needed to know what was about to happen.

"Of course, Captain Cole. May I ask what your plan is for rescuing USS Sandra Earle and her crew?"

Cole smiled.

"I'm not entirely certain. But we will be exiting slipstream about a light day from her last known position and then we'll scan. I want to know what we're getting into before I commit my vessel and crew to what could be hostile action."

"Very wise. Should you require additional assistance, please do not hesitate to call on us. We are vested in your success and in the resolution to T'Remebrale's quest. I hereby grant you permission to depart. Spacedock doors are opening now and all traffic is cleared to the outer marker. Vesta is cleared to full impulse once you've exited and unlimited speed once clear of the mid marker beacon. Safe and successful journey to you and your crew, Captain Cole."

USS Vesta disengaged from the pier moorings and moved slowly toward the opening doors and space. It took her only three minutes to emerge from the station, adjust course and begin accelerating toward full impulse. Only another fifteen minutes passed until she crossed the mid marker.

"Mr. Luger, please have our course set to the last known position of USS Sandra Earle and prepare for a full power slipstream run. I want to exit slipstream twenty four light hours from that position. Once we arrive, scan for the ship and let's figure out exactly what we're going to do. I'm going to check in with our Klingons and MACOs to make sure they're prepared to act."

As the captain left the bridge, the ship was made ready for slipstream and then made the jump.

**Battlestar Pegasus Brig**

The Cylon Six known as Gina lifted her head off the deck. The assault in the cell next to hers had gone on for more than two hours. More and more of Thorne's marines filtered in and out as they took their turns. The blue creature seemed to silently endure the torment for quite a while and then began screaming out in pain, humiliation and rage. Then the screaming stopped even though the attack continued for a while. When it was finally over and the attackers had gone, Gina dared to look. The blue creature was shackled as Gina was, stripped naked like Gina, raped and tortured like Gina. With a raspy voice Gina spoke to the blue creature.

"Είσαι ζωντανός;"

For a long time the blue creature didn't stir … didn't make a sound. Then she turned her head toward Gina and looked at her. Gina didn't know what to think of the blue creature. Other than the antennae and the color of her skin, she could have been human or Cylon. Then the blue creature found her voice.

"There must be some kind of way out of here. There must be."

As Erib mercifully passed out, she was fairly sure she was going to die.

"Δεν ξέρω τι σας είπε. Αλλά αυτοί οι άνθρωποι frakking πρέπει να σταματήσει. Δεν είσαι Κύλωνα και από όπου και αν είστε σαν ένα θεραπεία."


End file.
